Friday, September 14, 2012

Creatures & Treasures II: More RPG Nostalgia

WHEN INSPIRATION RUNS OUT, GO WEIRDIn
most fantasy games, once we’ve worked through the classic monsters from
legends, myths, and ransacked book series, we get to beasts of…less certain pedigree. In some cases, we get weirdness that works and has a distinct feel to it. When the Fiend Folio
came out, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. But the entries had detail
and richness to them- the Githyanki and Githzeri for example felt
developed right out of the box. Most of those creatures had been drawn
from British sensibilities- under the editorial guidance of Games
Workshop. Runequest’s Glorantha is another fantasy setting with truly
bizarre creatures. Take for example the Gloranthan Bestiary, which contains the appropriately nightmarish illustrations of J. Kevin Ramos.
That setting has some of the craziest monsters- from the krashtkids to
the waktapus to the morocanth. But somehow it works- there’s a sense of
those creatures’ role and place in the ecology. They work in the larger
context of the game. You could offer an essay (as Dragon Magazine
did for many years) on how they fit into the ecosystem. But often
companies run out of those kinds of ideas and they just start mashing
things together.

“It’s a part donkey, part baatezu, with claws
made of black-star amber forged in Odin’s back pocket and it can’t be
seen except by color-blind orphans.”

You know what I’m talking
about- the point at which you realize the authors either just had to
fill out their page count or were playing in the most over-the-top and
bats**t game possible.

Welcome to Creatures & Treasures II.

THE BOOK ITSELFCreatures & Treasures is a series of supplements for classic Rolemaster. For more on the series generally, you can check my review of the first volume here-Creatures & Treasures: RPG Nostalgia.
This second outing follows the general format of the first. The book’s
now a perfectbound 96-page softcover, the new standard for ICE books at
the time. Steve Hickman’s cover is pretty awesome and I think unique to
the book. Some of the later Rolemaster Companions recycled art
from fantasy paperbacks. Sadly the interior art’s not up to those
standards. I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a fan of James Holloway’s work. I think he hits the right notes for some products, especially Paranoia.
But here it looks blocky and weird. Only a few of the images have any
power and some (like the constructs) look like something from grade
school. That may be a question of the inking or reproduction. I saw the
original art for my late friend Barry’s illustrations for GURPS Religion.
They looked awesome- but someone at SJ Games inked them in a rush and
lost all the detail, making them look like weird Dan Smith knock-offs.
So not all art problems can be blamed on the artist. The page layout for
the book follows ICE’s standard dense but readable pattern. There’s
some overuse of italics in the monster descriptions- making info which
ought to be highly legible unclear instead. There’s an abundance of
typos. Monte Cook’s listed as the lead designer on the book, which came
out the year before his Dark Space campaign setting for RM. Some of the material here preludes those concepts. CREATURESThe
first two-thirds of C&T II cover monsters, beginning with the same
eight pages of information covering codes, climates, experience points
and so on. Nine sections follow, each with a theme: Animals (9-11);
Dragons and Fell Creatures (12-14); Composite Monsters (15-19);
Elementals and Artificial Beings (20-24); Entities from Other Planes
(25-35); The Undead (36-42); Entities from Deep Space (43-48); Dangerous
Plants (49); and Races (50-55). Discussions of poisons and how to
create your own monsters round out the material, repeating some of the
info from C&T I. Each monster section has a table providing the base
combat stats of the monsters, a description text section with special
abilities, plus notes on appearance and nature.

The monsters
lean heavily to the crazy, weird, and wtf. That’s not to say there
aren’t some cool and fun monsters presented, but the other stuff leaves
the most lasting impression. My three favorite monsters:

Sky Manta: Yes we’ve seen these in other fantasy fiction (perhaps on Thundarr the Barbarian?). But I still love the idea of a silent, gliding pack of these descending on an adventuring party.

Monastic Lich:
Because I have a hard time imagining anything funnier than the Lich
King suddenly leaping up and putting a boot to the head of the Paladin.
Yes, it is a martial artist Lich.

Minotaur Construct: I too saw Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger. Golem minotaurs are cool.

On
the other hand, here are some of the things which cause facepalm. Many
names throughout are uninspired (Feliss, Solaar, Frzzzzm, Natharl’nacna,
Quishad).

Trivern:
It is a normal-sized bird, but with a third wing. It uses that extra
wing on its back to stabilize itself. I…I don’t think birds work like
that. I’m also trying to picture throwing that into a game. “You see a
bird, but it has a third wing upon its back…” “Is it magic?” “No, just a bird, but you know this place is fantastic because of the third wing!” “It could just be radioactive here…”

Tracha: A giant beetle! Yikes! With bat wings! Holy Cow! And a pair of human arms! I’m sorry, what did you say?

Ni’hashbin Warrior:
It’s a kind of lizardman looking warrior- but with snakes as arms!
Which it uses to bear polearms and weapons. Which the snake jaws grip
instead of hands.

TREASURESRunning from pages 60-95, the treasure section is what I come to this book for. As with Creatures & Treasures I,
you get a miscellany of fantastic and varied ideas, ranging from the
mundane to the divine. After some general discussion of how to put
together a loot horde, the book sets you loose with nine different
treasure tables: Potions, Runes, Weapons, Armor, Shield, Modest Item,
Potent Item, Most Potent Item, Artifact. After each table comes a brief
description of the item’s effects. Again, the description is brief- just
enough to spark items and lay out the essential mechanics. None of
these items duplicate C&T I. I love that the GM first rolls 1d10 to
see what the item type is- meaning there’s an equal chance of getting a
modest item as an artifact. If you roll a 10, the GM picks the table or
rolls again twice. I do like the breakdown of items by power- and it is
worth noting that armor, weapons and such appear on the ranked item
tables.

So what are some of my favorites? These are a few I’ve
used in my games, and each one generated amazing stories and scenes
(which I’ll spare you).

Imbedding Spike: Will imbed itself into any stone or softer material without the need for pounding.

Indestructible Boots: Heavy boots which cannot wear out, be penetrated, and protect the user from heat (like walking on lava).

Gloves of Storing:
Will shrink down and conceal any single object the bearer can hold in
one had. This can be retrieved with the flick of a wrist.

Hoop Gates: Small metal circles. Anything passed through one will come out the other.

Nemesis Amulet:
When put on, it instantly creates a duplicate of the wearer of opposite
alignment and temperament, with the desire to eliminate the wearer.

This
last one the players unleashed in the midst of a massive battle. I’d
forgotten about the item, but they dropped it on the Grand
Thanatologist, Executioner of the Elemental Lords. The two of them went
at it, locked in a tomb fighting each other until another group of
adventurers stumbled on them two campaigns and ten years later.OVERALLWow, the monsters in this thing are goofy. But the treasure section almost makes up for it. Unlike Creatures & Treasures I,
you can buy a pdf of this book for a reasonable price. If you’re
looking for a quick list of fun and interesting magic items you can port
over to your fantasy campaign, you could do worse.